I think this is not in the spirit of NaBloPoMo, but I’m off to the Wallowas this evening and nearly forgot to post before I left. As for the timing of my departure, well, who doesn’t live driving windy, forested, possibly snowy roads in the dark with a screaming toddler?
This is my first attempt at participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo — say that three times fast), which the illustrious and articulate Ceri made me aware of. Let’s just file this under Things I’ve Already Failed At and skip past the part where I didn’t do day 1 of the challenge and move to day 2.
Today I used the Facebook stalker feed to spy on a conversation about whether it is right for a Christian to participate in Halloween. Though the questioner was doing her best not to be overly judgmental, the mere act of questioning my friend in a public place seemed intrinsically judgmental. My knee-jerk reaction to this sort of religiously driven crap is to (1) disassociate with people participating in it, and (2) write snarky things in response, then (3) wonder why I’m not a better person. Growing up is hard.
But the truth is, I have little trouble with Halloween, whether we define “participating” as handing out candy or dressing up as, say, Miss Wormwood or a “decorative” scarecrow and scaring children who come up the walk, har har that was funny that year. I even carved a pumpkin this year, for the first time in I don’t know how long. There are a couple things I dislike about the holiday — I dislike how our neighbors have a “graveyard” in their front lawn complete with a “corpse” “decomposing” nearby. That’s not my style. And I dislike how much candy I consume when the trick-or-treaters don’t show up and leave me with a bagful. But here’s what I like about the holiday: I like giving kids candy, I like the imagination and creativity that goes into planning, I like looking at the costumes, I love an excuse to dress my kid up, and I like watching kids play the role they’ve chosen for that day. These are good things. And if Easter and the War on Christmas (ha ha, oh, FOX news, you warmonger, you) has taught us anything, it’s that we can reclaim the holidays and celebrate them as befits our beliefs.
So that’s what I want to tell that ultramegaconservativewoman who is gently judging my friend for handing out candy. And that’s my first NaBloPoMo entry.
Against my will and my nature and my very soul, I’m trying to cut out dairy products for two weeks (for Boy Genius, who has eczema flare-ups that may be caused by dairy). Since I’m already a vegetarian*, this would make me almost vegan. Anyone have some vegan recipes or websites to share? Cause this is uncharted territory for me.
*mostly, but gosh I do love bacon
Man, I studied journalism for four years and never figured out what “news” was. But Bill Moyers says it so succinctly:
“The news is about what people want to keep hidden. Everything else is publicity.”
The essay my student plagiarized nearly word for word (and seriously, when you’re a C student, at least disguise your plagiarism!) came from a sample essay in a book about how to win college scholarships. And the subject was No Child Left Behind.
I mean, my brain’s circuits fried with all the irony (oh fine, it may be pop irony instead of literary irony, but still it’s stronger than coincidence) in those two facts. No, child, you will not be winning scholarships to college with plagiarized writing. You will be left behind.
Damn shame, too. Good kid.
Last night, I had the most wonderful dream: I was in a compost container store, and there were hundreds of compost bin and tumbler models to choose from: some artsy, some simple and practical, some inexplicably made to decompose themselves. A man was giving a demonstration, and I was debating between the self-composting composter bin and one that doubled as a sauna during the winter.
Then I woke up, and soon I’m going to go to Home Depot to get the ONE compost tumbler available in the entire valley. Harumph.
Two days until Epic Solo Road Trip 2010 commences. Am currently burning audiobooks into iTunes for the ride and scouting Google Maps for the most interesting routes to and from. Until then, one more class, one epic day’s worth of grading, and I’m outta here.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually made a New Year’s resolution. Certainly I’ve never kept one. But this year, there are some things I’d definitely like to do and see. So my resolution is to go exploring. Hopefully that will include lots of fishing.
